Roll bending



T. RASTELLI ROLL BENDING Sept. 15, 1970 4 Sheets-Shet 2 Filed Oct. 11, 1967 INVENTOR Te\esx ore RQIS+H i B D4 0 Ma WW5: A ORNE 5 Sept. 15, 1970 T. RASTELLI 3,528,274

ROLL BENDING Filed Oct. 11, 1967 4 SheetsSheet a ET 5 72 75 74 #4 1 1k 375 J J 76 T E i g wil HHI

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HHLF smale HT TH PE R @TZZ INVENTOR SHHDED mans REPRESENT ENVELOPES 0F Taeskwa Raga CURVES FORMED BY ROTHTING mowuaum. SHHFTS United States Patent 3,528,274 ROLL BENDING Telesfore Rastelli, Cheshire, Conn, assignor to Textron, Inc., Cheshire, Conn, a corporation of Rhode Island Filed Oct. 11, 1967, Ser. No. 674,542 Int. Cl. B21b 13/14, 29/00 US. Cl. 72-242 13 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention is directed to means for shaping work rolls. More particularly, work rolls are shaped by rotating a bearing shaft which has eccentric mounted rings attached thereto, the degree of eccentricity of each eccentric ring determining the mill shape which may be effected. The preferred embodiment discloses a rolling mill having work rolls and a plurality of backing bearings, the improvement characterized in that at least one of the backing bearings is mounted on a supporting shaft, said bearings comprising a plurality of segments spaced apart along said shaft, a plurality of rings having bores therein for mounting said rings on said shaft, said rings positioned intermediate at least some of said backing bearing segments, means securing said rings to said shaft for rotation therewith, the centers of some of the bores of said rings positioned along a common radius of the rings between the center of the ring and the circumference of the ring, and saddle means having bores therein for supporting said rings.

This invention relates to rolling mills and more particularly to a new and improved apparatus for bending or shaping work rolls. This invention is particularly adaptable for use with cold rolling mills of the Sendzimir type which have achieved promience throughout the industry in rolling ferrous and non-ferrous metals. These mills are capable of consistently holding extremely close gage tolerances throughout the complete range of cold rolled sheet and strip gages, obtaining these tolerances with a minimum number of passes. Cold rolling mills of the Sendzimir type difference fundamentally from both conventional rolling mills and other cluster type mills, although it should be appreciated that this invention could be applied to other types of conventional rolling mills. The fundamental difference is the manner in which the roll-separating force is transmitted from the work rolls through the intermediate rolls to the back-up assemblies and, finally to the rigid housing.

The cold rolling mill of the Sendzimir type permits the support of the work rolls throughout their length. Thus deflection is minimized and extremely close gage tolerances can be held across the full width of the material being rolled. In comparison, the rigidity of the conventional cold rolling mill is governed by the size of the work rolls and the back-up rolls which are supported by their necks in two separate housings. Under rolling pressures this results in roll deflection and, therefore, thickness variation, especially in the center of the sheet or strip.

The Sendzimir cold rolling mills are of three general types and are usually classified by the roll arrangement. Conventionally and most often, a one-two, one-two-three or one-two-three-four mill arrangement of rolls is provided although a one-two-one-four arrangement of rolls may be used, as shown in the preferred form of the invention.

Previously, in order to adjust the shape of the work rolls, an operator of the mill had to change the position of the individual eccentric rings at the saddle. These adjustments were made at no-load conditions and accomplished by individually adjusting crown control adjusting rods. By the use of this invention, there has been provided a significant improvement over the Sendzimir mills by keying eccentric segments to the shaft of the backing rolls, the shaft then only needing to be rotated in order to change the crown of the working rolls.

In accordance with this invention, work roll bending or shaping is accomplished by rotating the bearing shaft which has eccentric rings attached thereto, the degree of eccentricity of each eccentric ring determining the mill shape which may be effected.

In view of the foregoing, it is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved apparatus for effecting work roll bending.

Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved technique for work roll bending requiring only the movement of a single shaft rather than a plurality of individually adjusted camming segments.

Still other objects and advantages of this invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the constructions hereinafter set forth and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference is had to the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a mill according to this invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a shaft having eccentric rings mounted thereon, according to this invention;

FIG. 5 is a side view of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 shows the shape of a shaft having the eccentric rings mounted thereon to cause the working roll to form a half-straight, half-arched shape;

FIG. 7 is a diagram of the shaft having the eccentric rings mounted thereon for causing the working roll to assume a tapered shape;

FIG. 8 shows examples of shapes which may be formed by eccentrics on the shafts, such as shown in FIGS. 4-7;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of the saddle in which the bores form an arch, according to another embodiment of this invention,

FIG. 10 is an end view of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a front view of a shaft having eccentric rings thereon in the shape of the arch of FIG. 9; and

FIG. 12 is an end View of FIG. 11.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is disclosed a cross section of a one-two-one-four mill 10 having a housing 11 with openings 12 and 13 for permitting material shown at 14 to enter and pass therefrom, respectively. In the preferred embodiment, the mill comprises four upper backing elements 20-23. Intermediate rolls are provided at 24-26 and an upper work roll is provided at 27. The work roll 27 may be driven in the conventional manner or the intermediate rolls 24-26 may be driven in a conventional manner.

There is correspondingly shown in the bottom half of the mill backing elements 30-33, intermediate roll 34 and intermediate rolls 35 and 36 supporting a lower work roll 37. The lower portion of the mill may be driven in the same manner as described with respect to the upper portion of the mill.

Referring now to FIGS. 25, there is shown a saddle 40 in which there is supported the backing bearing element 20 on a bearing shaft shown at 41. The shaft 41 is splined at both ends thereof so that it may be rotated by a tool. The element 20 comprises, as shown, six bearing segments 42-47 mounted between webs or flanges extending from the saddle. These segments are supported by the shaft, such that a portion thereof is permitted to rotate against the intermediate roll 25.

Positioned on and keyed to the shaft 41 are eccentric bearing discs or rings shown at 52-58, respectively, these rings rotating within a saddle bore formed within the saddle fianges in a close fitting manner. As best shown in FIG. 3, the key for the eccentric ring 55 is shown at 6%. The center of the outer diameter of the shaft is shown at 61 and the center of the outer diameter of the ring is shown at 62.

In FIG. 4 there is shown the eccentric bearing discs or rings 52-58 mounted on the bearing shaft 41. As disclosed in FIG. 2, the entire bearing assembly is held in place by lock nuts 64 and 65, respectively.

In FIG. 5, a side view of FIG. 4, there is shown the displacement of the centers for each of these rings being off-set and lying somewhere along the radius of the shaft, each being offset in such a manner as to form the construction particularly shown in FIGS. 2 and 4.

It should be understood that each of the backing hearing elements may have eccentric rings mounted on the shaft thereof. In the configuration of FIGS. 24 for the eccentric rings, the work roll may be formed into an arch, as shown in FIG. 8.

Referring now to FIG. 6, there is shown a bearing shaft having eccentric rings 72-78 mounted thereon, such that the segmented portion of the backing bearing will cause the roll elements to form a half-strength half-arch, as shown in FIG. 8.

FIG. 7 shows a bearing shaft 80 on which the eccentric rings 8288 are positioned so as to cause the working rolls to exhibit a tapered configuration, also shown in FIG. 8. It should be understood that each of the backing bearings may have eccentrics positioned on the backing shaft thereof, such that different configurations for the work roll may be obtained. In addition, by adjusting individual ones of the bearing shafts, or by combinations of the shafts, other mill shapes are possible such as the combination of the arch, taper and half-arch, or any particular combination thereof.

Referring now to FIGS. 912, there is shown an alternate embodiment of the invention which incorporates bores in the saddle which, instead of being aligned, form a geometric configuration, such as an arch. More particularly, in FIGS. 9 and 10, there is shown at 90 a saddle having a plurality of bores 9197, the centers of the bores forming points along an arch. It should be understood that the centers of the bores could lie along other geometric figures, such as a half-arch, etc. In FIGS. 11 and 12 a shaft 101 is shown, having eccentric rings 102408 mounted thereon. These rings are positioned along the shaft 101, such that they also form the shape of an arch.

In the case where the eccentric rings form an equal arch with the arch of the bores of the saddle, the envelope of the shape of the work roll which may be developed ranges from straight to an arch, the magnitude of which is equal to the sum of the arch of the saddle plus the arch of the eccentric rings. It should be understood that, as disclosed previously, the eccentric rings may also be positioned along the shaft to form other geometric figures which, in conjunction with the saddle bores, may provide other work roll configurations.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efiiciently attained and while certain changes may be made in the above construction without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It should also be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

What is claimed is:

1. A rolling mill having a frame, with work rolls, intermediate rolls and a plurality of back-up roll elements thereon, the im rovement characterized in that at least one of said back-up roll elements comprises a central shaft having back-up roll segment means mounted on said shaft, wherein the outer diameter of said segment means is concentric with said shaft and wherein the external portions of said segment means are free to rotate about said central shaft, a plurality of circular bearing discs integrally connected to said shaft wherein at least one of said discs is eccentrically mounted on said shaft, and support saddle means mounted in said frame and having a plurality of circular bores for positioning there-in said bearing discs such that upon rotation of said central shaft said shaft is bent so that the periphery of the external portions of said plurality of segment means defines different types of contours.

2. The rolling mill of claim 1, in which said central shaft is provided with means for rotating it in order to shape the work roll-s.

3. A rolling mill apparatus having a frame and a plurality of back-up roll elements, wherein at least one of said back-up roll elements comprises:

(a) a central shaft mounted for rotation,

(b) a plurality of roll segment means mounted on said shaft, wherein the external portions of said segment means are capable of freely rotating about said shaft,

(0) a plurality of circular bearing discs integrally mounted on said central shaft, wherein at least one of said bearing discs is eccentrically mounted on said shaft, and

(d) a plurality of support saddle members having circular bores for positioning therein said bearing discs such that upon rotation of said shaft said shaft is bent so that the periphery of the external portions of said plurality of roll segment means defines different types of contours.

4. The rolling mill of claim 3, in which portions of the periphery of said discs form points along an are.

5. The rolling mill of claim 3, in which portions of the periphery of said discs form points along a straight line.

6. The rolling mill of claim 3, in which portions of the periphery of said discs form points along an arc and points along a straight line.

7. The rolling mill of claim 3, in which the axes of some of said bores in said support saddle members are offset with respect to each other as viewed in a plane perpendicular to the axes.

8. The rolling mill of claim 3, in which the axes of some of said bores lie along an arch-shaped line.

9. The rolling mill of claim 3, in which each of said saddle members has a circular bore for supporting one of said discs therein, wherein the axes of some of said bores are offset from each other as viewed in a plane perpendicular to the axes.

10. The rolling mill of claim 1, wherein said support saddle means comprises a plurality of saddle members, each member having a circular bore therein for supporting one of said bearing discs, wherein the axes of all of said bores lie on the same line and wherein one of said bearing discs is positioned on each side of each of said segment means.

11. The rolling mill of claim 1, wherein said support saddle means comprises a plurality of saddle members, each member having a circular bore therein for supporting one of said bearing discs, wherein the axis of each of said bores is offset from the axis of the adjacent bore as viewed in a plane perpendicular to the axes, such that a line passing through all the axes of Said bores forms the desired contours.

12. A rolling mill having a frame with work rolls, intermediate rolls and a plurality of back-up roll elements thereon, such that at least one of said back-up roll elements comprises a central shaft having a plurality of back-up roll segment means integrally connected to said shaft, wherein the external diameter of each segment means is concentric with said shaft and wherein the external portions of said segment means are free to rotate about said central shaft, a plurality of circular bearing discs connected integrally to said shaft and a plurality of support saddle members mounted in said frame, each saddle member having a circular bore for positioning therein one of said bearing discs, wherein the axes of at least a portion of the adjacent bores are offset from each other as viewed in a plane perpendicular to the axes such that upon rotation of said central shaft said shaft is bent so that a line passing along the periphery of the external portion of said plurality of segment means defines different types of contours.

13. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein a plurality of said bearing discs is eccentrically mounted on said central shaft, and wherein one of said bearing discs is mounted on said shaft on each side of each of said segment means.

References Cited CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examiner B. J. MUSTAIKIS, Assistant Examiner 

